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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26394613">Fate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendoftheotherside/pseuds/legendoftheotherside'>legendoftheotherside</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, OC hyuga appearance to set the fic, request fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:15:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26394613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendoftheotherside/pseuds/legendoftheotherside</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This was an anonymous request for Naruto/Neji AU where Naruto is put to train under Hyuga when he's a kid. Two of them meet and are fast friends, but it doesn't last. So once they see each other later, nothing is the same. </p><p>This is pure friendship fic since they're, like, 12 lol most of it is set during and after the Chunin exam.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hyuuga Neji &amp; Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's a big house. The biggest he's ever seen. Wooden walkways, green grass, and open gardens.</p><p>Naruto likes it, even if the novelty of everything scares him. Especially those pale eyes of the adults that have brought him here.</p><p>It's definitely better than going back to the orphanage. They don't look at him with those angry eyes like others do. But Naruto isn't sure he likes the different looks he gets. Something isn't right with the way they watch him.</p><p>At first, he thought they would be in trouble when a boy he'd fought, brought an adult to telltale as he cried more than Naruto thinks is normal for a boy older than himself. The adult scoffed at Naruto which Naruto knew is something adults do when he is around. It's definitely better than when they shout.</p><p>But the boy with creepy pale eyes, just like one that could be seen on the adult, ran at him with a fist raised. He was fast enough to catch Naruto off guard and they fell on the ground in a heap of short, tangled limbs.</p><p>Naruto has always thought himself better at grappling than anyone else. It is a fact. But right at that moment, he was losing a fight. Mostly because the boy had a year or two over him, longer arms and legs, and an inch or two over him. Even littered with scrapes and bruises, courtesy of Naruto nimble fists and sharp fingernails, the boy was stronger, and Naruto found himself in a pinch as his body hit the pebbled dirt hard enough to lose all the air from his lungs.</p><p>On his back, he couldn't do much except grab at the boy's shoulder and push him back. Even his legs couldn't find a purchase to kick himself up. But then the boy looked him in the eyes with his own pools of nothingness and bit at his forearm, hard enough to break the skin, drawing blood.</p><p>It hurt. It hurt enough that he can vividly remember it even now. Something strange happened back then. A pale light seeped from Naruto's bitten arm, enveloping the boy like it was caressing him.</p><p>Soon enough, the adult who ignored them swept the boy off Naruto in a move Naruto couldn't see happening by just how fast it was. That hurt too, as blood trickled down, over his elbow, drenching his white shirt.</p><p>The adult was screaming something for a few seconds but Naruto couldn't hear him as his head arm pulsated from the pain. The boy's teeth must have cut him worse from being dragged off of him.</p><p>"It's healed," the boy said quietly and the adult froze.</p><p>Scary veins broke through skin on the adult's face. If he was scary before, at that moment he was terrifying to Naruto.</p><p>The silence lasted for a long moment, but then Naruto heard those words, "We need to notify the clan council," and his life changed.</p><p>***</p><p>Back to the present, Naruto is aware that something big happened, something that made him a special guest to the Hyuga clan or something like that. He didn't pay attention when three adults, one woman and two men, came to greet him and told him so. The only thing he paid attention to is the fact that he. Will. Be. Trained. Just like ninjas! He likes ninjas, especially those scary ninjas that have an animal mask he can barely catch sight of them sometimes.</p><p>He wants to be a ninja. No, he will become Hokage! Which means he should be training. But Jiji doesn't let him yet because he is too young. But these weird-eye people gave him the opportunity and are willing to train him! He's just so happy.</p><p>While the training didn't start immediately when he arrived, he was given a set of exercises to strengthen his 'mind'. A boring thing but if it's a path to become a Hokage, he will do it. Even if he usually falls asleep during those. Medi-med-mediation? No. Meditation! That's the name of the exercises. He's proud he could remember the word. He's never heard that one before three adults with pale lilac eyes came to him and told him to strengthen his mind.</p><p>Right now he's doing it with his eyes closed but aware of the light outside, as he sits on the grass while a gentle breeze muses his hair. They told him to cleanse his mind of thoughts, though he's not sure how to. Mostly, him falling asleep happens when his thoughts slow down, a certain lethargy pressing on his head and body, and he's out like a fire under the rain.</p><p>He tries to do it. He's working hard, but it's too hard. He won't give up! Never.</p><p>A sound of footsteps register in the corner of his mind, then the accusatory words, "Who are you?" and his eyes flash open. Shifting his head, he sees a boy, probably not older than him. Pale lilac eyes, which he just can't get used to, stare at him under a set of scrunched eyebrows above which sits a bandage. Long, brown hair is loosely tied back and swishes when the boy takes a step forward.</p><p>"I asked you a question!"</p><p>Naruto winces from the boy yelling at him but calmly answers, "I'm training here." he feels like there's something about the boy that is important so he doesn't want to anger him.</p><p>"These are the Hyuga lands!" the boy exclaims. "You cannot be here. You are not Hyuga."</p><p>Naruto isn't sure what to say. Maybe the boy doesn't know. "I was brought here to train--"</p><p>"Liar!"</p><p>"I'm not lying!" Naruto yells back. He hates when people accuse him of lying. He never lies.</p><p>"Oh?" The boy starts to use that snotty tone, one Naruto can't really stomach and wants to kick his ass for being annoying. "If I call for one of my caretakers, what will they say?"</p><p>Naruto has enough. "Then call. They'll tell you the same as me." He turns his head to glare at a bush of flowers. Are they going to say the same? He isn't sure and that scares him.</p><p>He hears the boy run off somewhere to his left, making Naruto panic a bit. <em>What if they send me away? I'll never become the Hokage.</em></p><p>While he panics the boy comes back dragging by the arm the first Hyuga adult that he's met, the one who accompanied that other boy from the fight. A small thread of hope enters Naturo's mind because that's the adult that has brought him here. He won't lie, right?</p><p>"Neji-san, what is it?" the adult asks. Naruto notices the name - Neji - and he notices the honorific being used. The boy, Neji, must be someone important if an adult addresses him with that kind of honorific. Usually, kids address grownups like that, not the other way around.</p><p>"This," Neji says, waving a hand to encompass Naruto. "Is this okay, Kota-san?"</p><p>The adult, Kota, frowns. "Yes, Neji-san. He is to be here for training. A healer training regime, to be specific."</p><p>Neji doesn't look convinced, but some of the hard set of his shoulders eases a bit. "Are you sure?"</p><p>"Yes, I'm sure, Neji-san." Kota sighs. "I brought him here and the council decided to train him."</p><p>Neji's eyes go wide at that and he whips his head around to stare at Kota in surprise.</p><p>Then Kota clears his throat. "Maybe you could show Naruto how to meditate. He is still in the early phases of his training and will need all the help he can get."</p><p>Neji doesn't argue but his frown is back. "Fine."</p><p>***</p><p>"Uuum, Neji?"</p><p>"What, Naruto?"</p><p>What's that blue thingy over there?"</p><p>"What blue <em>thingy</em>?" Neji asks, bemused, making himself repeat the word thingy after Naruto. He just doesn't understand the other boy. Nothing he had learned up until the whiskered blonde showed up in the Hyuga compound, could prepare him for the troubled maelstrom called Uzumaki Naruto.</p><p>"Eh... y'know. That there!" Naruto points with his finger near the hollow of a large oak tree.</p><p>Neji doesn't see anything. Then he activates his Byakugan.</p><p>Right at the mentioned place, Naruto points to layers of a simple seal, one of many that guard the premises from intruders. During his training, Neji has been familiarized with identifying different seals found on Hyuga lands. This is one of those. And it's black, not blue. Drawn in black ink with a covering mechanism that makes it invisible to the naked eye. Only Byakugan wielders could see it.</p><p>Neji frowns in suspicion. "What do you exactly see?"</p><p>"Hmm, it's shiny and blue," Naruto answers while picking his nose.</p><p>He should've expected that. Stifling a sigh, Neji tries again, "How does it look like to you?"</p><p>Naruto makes a happy noise, raising his hands to gesture animatedly as he explains, "It's swirly, but not. Has small hooks around a circle. Something is written inside, but I can't read it from here." Naruto pauses, frowning a bit as he looks at Neji. "But mostly, it's just blue." he takes a glance back at the spot where the seal lies. "Eh! It's gone!"</p><p>Neji thinks he finally understands it. Maybe. Maybe not everything. They've been doing breathing exercises, a meditation of sorts, an old technique for stabilizing one's mind. Hyuga uses it to strengthen Byakugan. Naruto obviously managed to make himself 'see' the chakra residing inside the seal. <em>Blue. </em>Neji doesn't understand what the other boy sees, but he decides to inform one of the teachers tomorrow morning.</p><p>Unfortunately for Neji, he never gets the chance. Naruto is taken away before he can. He doesn't even get to say goodbye to the only person who has treated him like a normal person, who has never spoken to him with words concealing anything. Naruto had maybe been his only true friend.</p><p>***</p><p>*7 years later*</p><p>It's been one sticky situation after another. Naruto hopes it's over now that his team has gotten out of the Forest of Death. But he's not sure. He would like to be sure but he's not. Sasuke looks like he would keel over any second now, something Naruto would make fun of him for, but he feels too much like shit right now. And Sakura seems to be clenching her jaw just a tad harder than usual, holding the tears that want to escape from her sad eyes at bay. Even Kakashi-sensei looks frazzled.</p><p>Naruto can't explain what has happened up until now, but he knows he needs to ignore it for the next part of the exam so he can focus. It's just so hard after seeing all that. That woman-man in disguise. The power they wielded. He could still see it inside his head, feel the cold grip it had on him. He shudders from the memory.</p><p>There's another memory pushing on the edges of his mind. A sort of deja vu sensation, though he can't really make anything out of it. It appeared a few days ago, the first day of the exam when they were trying to find a room where the written portion of the exam was held. They came across the team of genin slightly older than themselves.</p><p>Green spandex on the guy called Rock Lee aside, Naruto noticed the other teen lurking in the background. Pale, pale eyes. The guy has pale lilac eyes, quite disturbing in combination with anger imbued glare when he stared down first Sasuke, then him. It has gnawed at Naruto as an unconscious thought, a sort of a memory that couldn't form. Something. There is something about Neji Hyuga, something Naruto can't place even now.</p><p>Naruto shakes his head to get some semblance of control over his racing thoughts. That isn't important. What is important is the next step in the Chunin exams.</p><p>He gets to fight Kiba in preliminaries and wins. With a fart. But it's still a win.</p><p>Then the matches for the finals are announced.</p><p>The person who occupied so much of his mind in the last few days is the person he will be fighting first in the finals. Hyuga Neji. Oh, well.</p><p>There's something annoying about Neji. but he can't put his finger on what. Maybe his arrogance. Or maybe that familiar dejectedness he can usually see in his own eyes. Naruto doesn't know but he's sure he'll find out. The fight is a month away. He needs to step up his game.</p><p>***</p><p>"I'm not going to lose to you...a coward who blames everything on fate and other crap!"</p><p>"You know nothing of suffering. Don't lecture me!"</p><p>Those pale, pale eyes watch the beaten form of Naruto, protruding veins at the temples and unhinged look. Naruto is equally determined. Neji will learn it the hard way.</p><p>"People are born carrying an unchangeable fate. You can never understand."</p><p>It is time to remember. To remember the pain and loneliness. To remember the only truly happy memory of his childhood. A memory of green grass and a dark-haired boy. A memory of friendship cut short.</p><p>"I understand..." Naruto tells him. "So what about it?"</p><p>The Byakugan is back, and Neji glares, chakra forming a bluish shadow around him. But it doesn't stop Naruto from saying what he wants.</p><p>"Stop acting cool. You're not the only special guy around."</p><p>Neji sneers at him. But Naruto isn't done.</p><p>"You're fighting hard against fate, right?"</p><p>Neji taunts him about how he can't use his chakra, how he should quit. Naruto ignores it. A fire is raging in his heart. Because he recognized Neji. Because he remembered his first friend. And he attacks. To beat some sense into that idiot.</p><p>And he wins.</p><p>"Stop complaining about fate and saying how it can't be changed. If that's true, I would be just a pebble on the dirt road. I'm not! I will become the Hokage, and I will change Hyuga by myself if I need to."</p><p>It ends on that note.</p><p>***</p><p>Sometime after, Naruto walks down the lit hallway of the arena, no purpose on his mind but to talk to his former friend who probably doesn't remember him at all. The memories of sun rays warming his skin, of meditation training under the shade of trees, the pale lavender eyes watching him with a certain note of happiness.</p><p>He's inside the medical room, door clicking shut behind and in front of him is Neji sitting on a cot.</p><p>They don't speak for a long moment, seconds, minutes. Just observing each other with curious eyes, like a veil has been swept from their brains, feelings of acceptance and anxious eagerness coming forth.</p><p>Neji is first to break the silence. "Still seeing that blue chakra thingy?"</p><p>"More times no than yes," Naruto answers. "It needs a clear mind to activate."</p><p>Neji seems to understand what he's talking about, the chance he's offering so easily.</p><p>"Seems we need to do some mediation."</p><p>Yes! Exactly what Naruto is thinking, what he wants so he smiles.</p><p>"Fate will change," Naruto promises and Neji's eyes shine brighter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my <a href="https://legendoftheotherside.tumblr.com">tumblr</a></p><p>~legendoftheotherside</p></blockquote></div></div>
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